In the UK, new rail vehicles are required to meet a range of proof, fatigue and collapse loads before acceptance for use on the rail network. Additionally, in the latest release of the Railway Group Standard, specifying structural requirements, an alternative dynamic crash loadcase is defined. Recent customer specifications have also included a crashworthiness requirement, which in some cases exceeds that of the Group Standard. In the UK, aluminium is extensively used for the production of multiple unit vehicle bodyshells. These structures are constructed and assembled using welded and bolted joints. To fully characterise the crashworthiness of a vehicle a structural analyst must be able to simulate the behaviour of welded and bolted joints in aluminium under dynamic loading, since recent 'real life' collisions have shown these areas to be critical factors affecting structural integrity. As part of the validation procedure for new designs, finite element (FE) models are produced to simulate new vehicle crash performance against targets set by these requirements. The current technique used for modeling welded aluminium sections and particularly the heat affected zone (HAZ) is presented in the paper. Bolt failure modeling within large structures is also addressed and results are presented from calibration tests and simulations carried out to evaluate the failure behaviour of Huck Bolted connections. This paper presents an overview of the current state of the art in the rail industry and describes, through various case studies, the approach that Bombardier Transportation uses for validation of new vehicles. These case studies also show novel aspects of new vehicle design, which increase safety and highlight the commitment of Bombardier Transportation to a 'design for crashworthiness' approach to new passenger vehicles.
Validation simulation of new railway rolling stock using the finite element method
Validierungssimulation neuer Schienenfahrzeuge unter Einsatz der Finite-Elemente-Methode
2003
13 Seiten, 13 Bilder, 4 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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